by

Mike McFarnell

Joseph William McFarnell as a young man had flair, charm and great skill as a sportsman, which made him a friend to so many people. Ten years ago, I read his eulogy at his funeral, which was very easy to write but afterwards everyone asked so many questions and this inspired me to write a book about his life.

This book is mainly written for the family and I make no excuses for the style and content. For the rest of the book, I will use the name everyone used to call my father by and that is' Mac '.    The contribution made by Mac to sport in Kenya was enormous. He had the vision to recognise and implement sport where religion and colour ceased to be a factor. The land of his birth, South Africa followed another path and the cruel and unjust regime of Apartheid was to blight and eventually incur sanctions that ultimately forced a return to an acceptable code of conduct. The bulk of the book consists of a letter Mac sent to Nelson Mandela. The letter, which conveys Mac's strong convictions and remedies that were never delivered. The State President of the Republic of South Africa, P W Botha wrote a personal letter back to Mac to explain why Nelson Mandela would not be given the letter.    Rafiki is the Swahili word for friend and Mac regarded friendship as very important. It was only through the friendships that he forged that he was able to gain so much support for his ideas.    I must thank everyone who has helped to make this publication possible. My mother has at times found my probing for memories difficult and a challenge but with each draft new and interesting insights emerge. I am sure that if further editions are requested, there will be many additional pages. 

 

  

 

Mac and Stella  courting on farm in Kitale  ( Dad and Mum )                                                                      Mac in football kit

 

Christmas was an important time for Mac.

 

               

 

How many children have a father who flies in as Father Christmas.

 

    

Christmas 1952 was very special for two young cowboys with sister Jean and her dolls.

 

364 Kileleshwa was one of the many houses in Nairobi that was home to the McFarnell family.

Mac was keen to develop the sporting skills of all his children and their friends. Handicap races at the farm in Kitale at Christmas time were followed by the giving of presents to all the Watu (people) on the farm.

A ritual had become established when all the staff came up to the house to receive their presents from my grandmother. Dressed in their finest maradadi clothes, dancing and moving to the rhythmic beat of drum a single line progressed up from the diary to the house.

 

                 

The men received a shirt, a bag of sugar, a bag of flour, a pack of butter and a bag of posho. All clothes were hand sewn so in addition, small patches were also included. These were greatly valued and were used to patch garments. At times you suspected that holes were covered that did not exist. The local brew of pombe was consumed and celebration continued well into the night with much singing and dancing.

 

  

               Jean, Mike and Dave in the back of Subnose

 

Mac's and Stella's first car was called "snubnose". In the above picture we have from the right, Lillian, David, Mac, Jean, Mike and Stella. The journey from Nairobi to Kitale took ten hours. Nairobi to Nakuru was on tarmac but then it turned to dusty gravel and catch the rainy monsoon season became sticky treacle mud which cars found very difficult to negotiate even with chains on the wheels. With Stella driving "Snubnose" and Mac pushing, we slid pass the big heavy and expensive cars stuck in the mud.
The other great event at Christmas time was greeting arrivals to the farm. The custom developed where anyone approaching the farm was to sound the horn as they crossed the river on the road leading up to the farm. We clustered at the top gate of the farm then tore down the double track lane to announce the new arrival.

 

 Jasmer Singh Grewal
             1950

Mac's greatest friend was Jasmer Singh, who joined the Public Works Department, P.W.D in 1947 and started cricket, hockey and mixed hockey. He always took a keen interest in the administrative and field side of sport within the Department ( name changed to Ministry of Works, M.O.W. in 1956. He was secretary to the Kenya Federation of Sport and, together with Mac, started the Commercial Cricket League. His contribution to cricket in Kenya was enormous. He played in six internationals and is the holder of 307 runs record for the first wicket for Sikh Union ( now Simba Union ) against Nakuru Athletic Club. The Internationals included Kenya against Gujerat & Sunder C.C. in 1957 and South Africa Non-Europeans in 1958.
In 1975, he was appointed to manage Kenya in the first Cricket World Cup in Britain and in 1996 managed Kenya in the World Cup in India / Sri Lanka. He was Chairman of Kenya Cricket Association from 1970 to 1977. He travelled many times to Britain and always took time to meet up with Mac. In August 1999, Jasmer became General Manager of the Kenya Cricket Association.

The following small article in the Sunday Post in May 1950 recognised, the first vital step taken by Mac to realise his dream to give all sportsmen and women in Kenya an opportunity to play against each other without the racial and religious divide that had for so long made it difficult. The discipline of employment and possible retribution ensured that prejudices were held in check.

 

Here he found a person, Jasmer Singh Grewal who not only shared his vision but became a great friend. Together they had the Nairobi Commercial Cricket League formed ready to start as soon as the football season finished. Much of the ground work and contacts within the businesses had been achieved.

Mac and Jasmer were highly respected as sportsmen and quickly gained a reputation as sports administrators. The Leagues ran with smooth efficiency and the many problems of violence and confrontation was removed by the strong threat of discipline by the employee.

 

Tom Clarke wrote in the Daily Nation

 

THREE WISE MEN ( Wright, Lugonzo and McFarnell )

HEAD PRO SOCCER

 

The plan for semi-professional football in Kenya yesterday became clearer for it was announced that the three men mainly concerned in the venture are long time soccer stalwarts Jimmy McFarnell, Issac Lugonzo and Maurice Wright.
And so experienced are these three wise men that they are not rushing into the project. Already Mac has spent eighteen months working on the project and they have no intention of opening their league before April 1963.

                       

Kenya Independence and the pace of change unfortunately did not see the implementation of this project. Suddenly all Civil Servants were confronted with an option to receive compensation and return to England or take their chances in the new emerging Kenya. Mac put family first in the decision to move to England. There is no doubt that his heart remained in the Country that he loved.

 

      

     Stanley Matthews, Jack Nugent, Mac                                                       Stands at the Stadium

 

     

 

Mac became a great friend of Sir Stanley Mathews when he came to Kenya in 1956. Stanley was able to relate to the vision, beliefs and aspirations that Mac held to improve sport for all regardless of colour and religion. Stanley did not want to play exclusively with the white teams. He demanded to be able to play, train and coach with anyone and Mac ensured that the stadiums were packed with representatives from all races.

In 1962, shortly after the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa, Mac met up with Stanley in Durban. I went with Mac to the Hotel on the seafront of Durban, Natal to meet up with Stanley. I was told I would be given the great honour of carrying Stanley's football kit bag. I was not convinced entirely by the idea, but carried the bag to the waiting taxi which took us to the football stadium. We entered the stadium by a small side door and were taken to the V I P enclosure where Stanley left us to go and change for the match. It was a big Stadium holding 30,000 spectators. The seats were segregated with a small section for blacks only, a slightly larger section for coloureds and the remaining area reserved exclusively for whites only. The Blacks section was packed and gave a tremendous roar when Stanley ran out on the pitch. A huge player marked and towered over Stanley. He was quick and effectively cut out any balls moving towards Stanley. You could sense the disappointment of the quiet and sombre crowd. However, from the kick off of the second half, Stanley shot into an open space to receive a perfectly timed ball. He dribbled past two static half backs. Panic gripped the opposition team and they all chased after him leaving the other forwards unmarked. Seeing this happen, Stanley sent a beautifully weighted pass to the centre forward who in his excitement sent the ball skywards over the goal post. Now every ball was sent in towards Stanley, who lost his defender at will. Mesmerising players and spectators with his control and darting movements with the ball, Stanley won the aclaim of the whole stadium. I remembered suddenly that I would be carrying Stanley's kit bag after the match and then I understood the word 'honour.'

In fact, I travelled alone in the taxi back to the hotel with the kit bag because Mac and Stanley went off to a big function.

In Soweto, South Africa, he trained an all-black schoolboy team, "Sir Stan's Men". Those South African links brought him much pleasure, but they were not universally appreciated while apartheid held sway, and he was banned, for instance, from attending a Sportsman of the Year contest in Zimbabwe in 1985.
Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE, footballer, died yesterday aged 85 on 23rd February 2000. Born on 1st. February 1915 Stanley Matthews was the most famous of all English footballers, and perhaps the greatest of all wingers. Other players may have come close to matching his celebrity or his skills, but none has been held in such affection or esteem. As a symbol of all that is best in the game he was beyond compare. His professional longevity, too, is unlikely to be challenged. He was past 50 when he played his last league game, yet he felt that he had retired several years too soon. Mac and Stanley stayed in touch, but Mac never took advantage of their special friendship especially when Mac came to England. As a symbol of all that is best in the game he was beyond compare.

His professional longevity, too, is unlikely to be challenged. He was past 50 when he played his last league game, yet he felt that he had retired several years too soon. Mac and Stanley stayed in touch, but Mac never took advantage of their special friendship especially when Mac came to England.

 

Another great football player to visit Kenya whom Mac got to know very well was Len Shackleton known as

      

'The Clown Prince of Soccer'.

Len Shackleton was born in Bradford on 3rd May, 1922.
In 1946 - 47, he made 57 appearances for Newcastle United and scored 25 goals. Then he joined Sunderland for ten years 1947 - 57 and made 320 appearances and scored 98 goals. Favouring an inside-left position, he gained five England caps. Of his five international caps, perhaps the most famous was against the then World champions West Germany in 1954 when England recorded a 31 victory.

 

 

Recollection of holiday trips between Machakos and Voi

There was another period in Mac's life when he drove for hours over the corrugated, dust or mud covered roads under the magnificent backdrop of Mount Kenya to pay out to the Public Works department project teams. It was sitting behind a wheel for hours and the need to quench a raging thirst caused by dust and heat that contributed to the substantial figure.

   .  

                     Mac, Sham Singh and driver                                        giraffe and other game

In the photograph Mac, his relief driver and the Project Engineer, Sham Singh and me aged eight stopping for a well deserved break on the roadside somewhere between Machakos and Voi. In preparation for one of these trips all old tennis balls were gathered up from the tennis club in Nairobi so that they could be distributed to the young natives in the villages. This included a demonstration of kicking with both feet against the wall of a mud hut, and ball control from head to knee to feet.

Bwana Macuba ( big man ) could still impress the large audiences of young aspiring football players. Mac was never robbed although he carried large sums of money to pay out to project teams in the bush. On reflection, I think his love of sport may have helped stop him from becoming a target.
My fond memories of these trips in the long school holidays were the collection of a vast treasure of stones from the dry river beds. Sham Singh endeavoured to arrive at sites on time. The last hour of any journey reflected this ambition to the time scheduled. When late, he drove at speed but if early, he drove at a snail's pace which included refreshment stops which gave me the opportunity to explore the dry river beds to add to my collection of stones.

 

Chania Falls, Thika

Another project undertaken by Mac was to build kicking walls. He believed that the wall allowed youngsters to develop skills by practicing with a ball. It did not matter whether it was a football or a tennis ball. His great skill at kicking a tennis ball with both feet was impressive to watch. Many walls carried a grid of squares, marked with numbers. Now the game became a real challenge. I only saw Mac score twenty once but he was very capable of hitting over half of the randomly placed numbers. The Milk Marketing Board sponsored two walls in the poorer areas of Nairobi with a prize for anyone striking the twenty white milk bottles on the wall. I was never aware that anyone achieved the full twenty. The wall provided an opportunity for individuals to meet others. Certainly for tennis it was a good way to find someone to play against.

The Mau Mau held sad memories because it was a time when people who had been trusted could no longer be trusted. The Kikuyu race, under the leadership of Jomo Kenyatta were fighting for independence. Ordinary people were made to commit horrible inhuman acts out of fear. Mac and Stella had engaged a children's nurse to look after their daughter Jean. Lillian was a beautiful and gentle person who also looked after my brother David and me when we had chicken pox, mumps and measles. At the height of the Mau Mau, all Kikuyu were taken into detention and this included Lillian. The Police swooped one dark night and led Lillian, our cook and his assistant off to the detention camp. Mac never felt threatened by the Mau Mau and when called upon to walk patrol indulged himself by carrying a driving wood. The other members of the patrol came armed to the teeth with rifles and hand guns.     (Left )  Lillian and Jean

As Mac mentions in his letter to Nelson Mandela (page 59) Jomo Kenyatta sent him a message when he heard the family was leaving Kenya in 1963 which said " Mac you are one Mzungu ( European ) who can come back to Kenya without a re-entry permit".

Jomo Kenyatta

President Jomo Kenyatta, (left) who died in August 1978 at an approximate age of over eighty, became Kenya's Prime Minister in June 1963. To the Africans he was known as "Burning Spear". Mac, who met Kenyatta on numerous occasions said that he possessed a genius for oratory when addressing large crowds of Africans that was almost Hitlerian, enforcing the image by waving his elephant headed stick and fly whisk. Kenyatta professed to be searching for a synthesis of the old Africian and new Western ideas. He defended primitive Kikuyu customs insisting there was much value in the old pagan ways. In his later years, Kenyatta became affectionally known as Mzee " the Grand old Man " and although not a sportsman saw the political advantages of sports success on the world stage.

There were many tribes in Kenya and Mac often discussed the great potential that each displayed in their dances and games. Imagine these young tall Masai warriors in a football match waiting to head a ba   © 2024 Kenya 63